The results for the photography included in the contemporary sales at Sotheby’s in New York last week were generally solid. With no photo lots in the Now and Contemporary Evening auction (and no photographs included in the parallel Modern Art sales either), the available photographs settled into the Day sale, where they largely performed well. Aside from two prominent photo withdrawals (works by Richard Prince and Cindy Sherman), the top lot Prince cowboy print sold within its estimate range, and the demand for Ana Mendieta’s lifetime prints continued to build, with a positive surprise coming for a 1982 unique work. When the tally was done, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $1.5M) came in squarely in the middle of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range (minus the withdrawals).
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 12 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | $1255000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | $1835000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 10 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 2 |
| Buy In % | 16.67% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | $1536600 |
Here is the breakdown (using our usual Low, Mid, and High price tier definitions):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 0 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | NA |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | NA |
| Low Buy In % | NA |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | $0 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | $0 |
| Mid Total Lots | 5 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 4 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 1 |
| Mid Buy In % | 20.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | $125000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | $72600 |
| Total High Lots | 7 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 6 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 1 |
| High Buy In % | 14.29% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | $1710000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | $1464000 |
The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 420, Richard Prince, Untitled (Palomino), 1982-1986, estimated at $500000-700000; it was also the top photography outcome of the sale at $540000 (image above, via Sotheby’s).
90.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there was 1 positive surprise in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (image above, via Sotheby’s):
Lot 449, Ana Mendieta, Untitled (from Mujer de arena), 1983, estimated at $70000-90000, sold at $192000
The complete lot by lot results can be found here.
